Part 91

The Eastern Empire attained its acme in the sixth century, during the reign of Justinian, A.D. 527-565. It was he who built the great Church of Saint Sophia at Constantinople, now a Mohammedan mosque. His chief service to mankind, however, was the codification of the laws in the great system of Roman jurisprudence called the Civil Law, forming the basis of the law in European states at the present day.

CONQUESTS OF THE FAMOUS GENERAL BELISARIUS

In the East, the famous Belisarius, an Illyrian of plebeian birth, fought for Justinian against the Persian king Chosroes I. (or Nushirvan), who reigned A.D. 531-579. Justinian purchased peace by payment of tribute to this Oriental despot, whose empire extended from the Red Sea to the Indus.

In the West, Justinian’s arms had great success. In 534 the Vandal kingdom in Africa was brought to an end by the victories of Belisarius. In 535 Belisarius conquered Sicily, and from 535-540, and again from 541-544, fought the Goths in Italy, until the jealousy of his master recalled him.

His successor in command, Narses, completed the overthrow of the Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy by his campaigns in 552-553. Under Justinian, the Visigoths were driven out of the south of Spain, so that there was for a time a revived Roman Empire of the West, embracing nearly the whole of the Mediterranean coasts. Justinian died in 565, and a speedy change came in Italy.

LOMBARDS CONQUER AND CONTROL ITALY UNTIL TIME OF CHARLEMAGNE

The warlike Germans called Lombards had settled in Pannonia (south of the present Austrian Empire), by Justinian’s invitation, about 540. They fought to extermination the Gepidæ (Goths), and in 568 passed over the Alps into the fertile plain of northern Italy.

Under their king Albion, the Lombards subdued the north and much of the south of Italy (the central part, including Rome and Ravenna, on the Adriatic, with Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia, remaining still Roman), and the Lombard kingdom of Italy thus formed continued for two centuries, until conquered by Charlemagne.

The growth of Venice dates from this Lombard conquest, when the victims took refuge in the islands and lagoons at the head of the Adriatic Sea, where a town had been founded by fugitives from the Huns.

THE EMPIRE OVERRUN BY PERSIANS AND GREEKS

The flourishing period of the Eastern Empire closes for a long time with Heraclius, who died in A.D. 641. The Persians and the Turks (Mongolians from Asia), with their kinsmen the Avars attacked the empire with formidable strength. Between 611 and 615 the Persians overran Egypt, Syria and Asia Minor, remaining encamped for ten years within sight of Constantinople. Heraclius, between 620 and 628, recovered the Persian conquests.

DECLINE OF THE EASTERN EMPIRE AND CONQUEST BY THE TURKS

For the next four hundred years the Empire enjoyed a period of comparative prosperity, marked by successful defense against Saracens and Bulgarians. From 1204 to 1261 it fell under the sway of the French and Venetians, who jointly established the so-called Latin dynasty. From this period on for almost a hundred years its decline was steady, and, in 1453, the empire was brought to a close with the capture of Constantinople by Mohammed II.

THE SARACEN EMPIRE: ITS FANATICISM, ART AND LEARNING

Saracen (Arab. _Sharkiin_, the eastern people, from _Sharq_, the East), is a term applied to the first followers of Mohammed or Mahomet who within forty years after his death, 632 A.D., had subdued a part of Asia and Africa. The Saracens conquered Spain in 711 and following, but were defeated at Tours, France, by Charles Martel in 732. Under Abd-el-rahman they established the caliphate of Cordova in 755, which gave way to the Moors in 1237. The empire of the Saracens closed with the capture of Bagdad by the Tartars, 1258.

We now come to a remarkable chapter in European history,--the invasion of Europe, the land of the Aryans, by a Semitic race, the followers of the famous Mohammed. Connected with this is the rise of the new religion and of a vast dominion that played a great part in the history of the Middle Ages. The latter only can be touched on here.

THE “KORAN” BECAME THE BASIS OF BOTH RELIGION AND EMPIRE

The doctrines of Mohammed, written down from time to time, received the name of the Koran,--that is, the “Reading”; and the religion itself was called _Islam_, or Mohammedanism--that is, “Salvation.”

THE HEGIRA OR FLIGHT OF MOHAMMED

His wife and a few other immediate relatives were the prophet’s first disciples, and these did not increase very rapidly. The people of Mecca denounced him as a madman or an impostor, and in a little time he was forced to flee from Mecca to save his life. He betook himself, with his disciples, to what is now Medina. The date of this flight, or _Hegira_, as the Arabians call it,--July 15, 622 A.D.,--has been adopted ever since as the chronological era in Mohammedan countries. At Medina he was received with open arms,--his doctrines having already made a number of converts in that place; and here he built his first mosque.

HIS RELIGION SPREAD BY THE SWORD

A complete change now came over Mohammed,--the dreamer became a red-handed soldier. “The sword,” cried he, “is the key of heaven and hell,” and by the sword Islam was to be forced upon all men. Tribe after tribe was subdued; and before the lapse of ten years the whole Arabian peninsula acknowledged the sovereignty of Mohammed, and could boast of an unmixed population of _Moslems_, or True Believers. The prophet was preparing to carry the new religion beyond the bounds of Arabia, when he was cut off by a fever at Medina in A.D. 632.

EMPIRE EXTENDED BY CONQUESTS OF THE CALIPHS

Mohammed was succeeded in his power by rulers called his _Caliphs_, or Successors, the first of whom was his father-in-law, Abu-beker. They were at once spiritual and temporal rulers. The proselyting spirit of Mohammed had been communicated to his successors, and they began a long series of invasions, wars, and conquests. They everywhere gave men the choice of three things,--Koran, tribute, or sword. By these means the religion of Mohammed was spread over a large part of Asia and Africa, and made its way into Europe also.

SARACEN CONQUESTS IN THE EAST

The first countries assailed were the Oriental possessions of the Byzantine Empire. In the reign of Abu-beker, Syria and Mesopotamia were subdued by Arabian armies. Under the next caliph, Omar, Egypt was conquered and Northern Africa overrun. The Arabs, or Saracens, as they were also called, met with comparatively little resistance in the Oriental countries, the countries beyond Mount Taurus; and this may be accounted for by the fact that these were the parts of the Roman Empire in which both Roman law and Christianity had taken least hold.

Thus the Eastern Empire was shorn of all its Oriental possessions; and even the farther East--Persia and the lands beyond, to India--was added to the Moslem dominion.

THE FURY OF CONQUEST IN THE WEST

In the West, however, a stout resistance was encountered. The Saracens besieged Constantinople, against which they carried on a siege of eight years (A.D. 668-675); but every assault was repelled by torrents of terrible Greek fire. A second siege, forty years afterward, met a like result. In North Africa, too, they encountered long and obstinate resistance; but finally the whole northern coast--Cyrene, Tripoli, Carthage--was subdued; and in A. D. 710 a host of turbaned Arabs, with unsheathed scimitars, under Tarik-ben-Zaid, crossed the narrow strait into Spain and landed on the rock which commemorates the name of their leader (“Gibraltar,” i. e., _Jebel Tarik_, the Mountain of Tarik).

SUBJUGATION OF SPAIN AND SOUTHERN GAUL

It will be remembered that a Visigothic kingdom had been established in Spain; but Roderick, the “last of the Goths,” was defeated on the field of Xeres, and the Saracens established themselves firmly in Spain. In the course of a few years they had possession of the whole peninsula, with the exception of the mountainous districts in the north, where the little Christian kingdom of the Asturias maintained itself.

The ambition of the Saracens now overleaped the Pyrenees. They obtained a foothold in Southern Gaul; and after a time an able Saracen commander, Abd-el-rahman, led a powerful Mohammedan army northward to subdue the land of the Franks. As far as the Loire everything fell before him, and it seemed that all Europe would come under Moslem sway.

THEIR DEFEAT BY CHARLES MARTEL

It was in the hour of need that Charles Martel appeared as a champion for Christendom. Gathering a powerful army, he met the Saracens between Tours and Poitiers (_pwät-yea´_). A desperate battle, which lasted for seven days, ensued; but on the seventh day the Saracens were defeated with great slaughter, A.D. 732.

This victory arrested forever the progress of the Mohammedan arms in Europe, and procured for Charles the expressive surname of “the Hammer” (_Martel_), by which he is known in history.

While the Saracens were stopped from pushing their conquests farther into Europe, they firmly established themselves in Spain, where they founded a kingdom that lasted for seven hundred years,--that is, till the very close of the Middle Ages.

DIVISION OF SARACENIC EMPIRE

For a short time the vast dominion which the Saracens had conquered held together, and a single caliph was obeyed in Spain and in India. But soon disputes arose as to the right of succession to the caliphate: wars and secessions took place, and in A.D. 755 the Saracenic empire was divided,--one caliph reigning in Spain and another in Bagdad.

In the East, the most distinguished of the Saracenic rulers was Haroun-al-Raschid (Aaron the Just), who became caliph in A.D. 786, and was a contemporary of Charlemagne. In the _Arabian Nights_ we find a vivid picture of the city he ruled and the life he led. After the death of Haroun, the Eastern dominion of the Saracens was rent by civil strife; one province after another broke off from the caliphate, till in the eleventh and twelfth centuries it fell a prey to the Turks.

SARACENS SUCCEEDED BY THE MOORS IN SPAIN

In Spain, on the division of the Saracenic power, the rule was in the hands of the Ommiyad line, and the capital was at Cordova. From this city the scepter of the Ommiyades ruled during 283 years (from A.D. 755-1038); but in the eleventh century the supremacy of the Saracens gave place to the Moorish empire in Spain.

SARACEN CONTRIBUTIONS TO LEARNING AND ART

In the intellectual history of the Middle Ages the Saracens played a remarkable part. When Europe was sunk in the grossest ignorance, this clever people were actively engaged in the cultivation of science, learning, and the arts. The schools of Cordova vied with those of Bagdad in the collection of books and the encouragement of science, and from them proceeded nearly all that was original in the medicine, physics, and metaphysics of Europe during the Middle Ages.

GERMANIC EMPIRE OF CHARLEMAGNE

Charlemagne may be regarded as the chief regenerator of Western Europe after the dissolution of the Roman Empire. At the date of his coronation, 800 A.D., his empire was not inferior in extent to that of the old Roman Empire. He was master of all Germany and Gaul, the greater part of Italy, and part of Spain. Under him the Frankish dominion reached its highest point, and marks the formal termination of an antiquated state of society. It was also the introduction to another totally different form itself and from its predecessor. It was not barbarism, it was not feudalism; but it was the bridge which united the two.

The most important chapter in the history of the Middle Ages is that informing us how the ruins of the dilapidated Western Empire were for a time rebuilt into an imposing structure by the genius of a great man, the grandest figure of the Middle Ages,--Charlemagne. The real name of this great man was Karl, that is, Charles. Though best known by his French name of Charlemagne (Charles the Great), we must remember that he was not a Frenchman in our sense of the term, but a thorough Teuton, or German, in birth, instinct, speech, and residence.

WHAT THE DOMINIONS OF CHARLEMAGNE COMPRISED

The kingdom of the Franks, to which Charlemagne fell heir on the death of his father, formed an extensive dominion comprising portions of the two countries we now call France and Germany,--for it must be remembered that the specific countries, France and Germany, did not yet exist at all.

At this time--the latter half of the eighth century--Italy was divided between the Lombards and the Eastern emperors, England had come into existence, but only as a number of feeble and warring states, Spain was under the rule of the Moslems. In the meantime the land of the Franks was lifting itself from out the surrounding barbarism of the new races, and was the center of that Germanic civilization which was struggling into existence.

It is important to bear in mind the actual condition of the European world at the time Charlemagne came on the stage, for it will help us to understand the work he did, how far he succeeded and how far he failed.

THE CENTRAL PLAN OF CHARLEMAGNE’S EMPIRE

The ruling idea of Charlemagne was the re-establishment of the Roman Empire,--the building up on German soil of that colossal power which had toppled over because it rested on the too narrow basis of Latin nationality. In executing this design he aimed to use all the elements of civilization that the times presented, and especially these two great elements,--the political ideas and instincts of the Teutons, and the adhesive power of the Christian Church. Hence we find him, throughout his whole career, carefully cherishing all those old German institutions upon which the mass of his people looked with deep reverence, while at the same time we behold him the protector of the Pope and the loyal and ardent champion of the Church.

OBJECT OF HIS WARS AND HIS CHIEF FOES

It was in the effort to realize his grand idea that Charlemagne undertook the numerous wars and expeditions that filled the forty-six years of his reign. We shall not enter into the details of these wars; but it is needful to understand their object and their result.

The most important of Charlemagne’s military enterprises were directed against the fierce pagan nations of Germany and the wild Scythians in the outlying lands beyond. To appreciate the importance of these we must try to realize that the eastern frontier of the Frankish land, that is, the eastern boundary of Charlemagne’s kingdom, on the German side of the Rhine, ran into and abutted on the extensive stretch of country in Middle Europe that was still in the hands of the various uncivilized tribes. As long as these peoples remained in their warlike, savage, and pagan condition, they would press heavily on the struggling civilization of the Frankish kingdom, and would endanger, if not utterly destroy, its progress. Hence to subdue and especially to Christianize these tribes--to extend the domain of organized and law-governed society into the desert waste of Teutonic barbarism--was a main object with Charlemagne.

HE SUBDUES THE SAXONS AND BAVARIANS

With the Saxon confederation, formed by various pagan tribes on the Weser and the Elbe (the same tribes from among which the Saxons and Angles, who conquered Britain three centuries before this, had gone forth), Charlemagne had the greatest trouble. He repeatedly marched into their country and subdued them; but they constantly rose up again, and it was only after some terrible acts of vengeance,--for example, he one day had forty-two hundred prisoners hanged,--that they at length submitted to be baptized and to become peaceable subjects.

Soon after this the Bavarians attempted to render themselves independent of the Frankish power by the assistance of the Avars, a Tartar race living in what we now call Hungary (then _Pannonia_). Charlemagne overpowered the Bavarians, incorporating Bavaria with his German territory; and then revenged himself on the Avars by conquering them, taking their treasures, and annexing Hungary to his dominion.

THE FIRST UNION OF THE GERMANS UNDER ONE HEAD

The result of Charlemagne’s conquests on the east side of the Rhine was that Germany was for the first time all united under one head, and on that side the Frankish kingdom was extended to the confluence of the Danube with the Theiss and the Save.

Against the Saracens in Spain Charlemagne made an important expedition. The capture of Saragossa laid Aragon and Navarre at his feet, and he united the whole country as far as the Ebro to his own kingdom as a Spanish province. During his return the rear-guard under Roland, suffered a defeat in the valley of Roncesvalles, in which the bravest champions of the Franks were destroyed. This somewhat tarnished the laurels Charlemagne had won in Spain, but did not undo the substantial results of the campaign.

NORTHERN ITALY UNITED TO HIS EMPIRE

We must now see what Charlemagne did in Italy. At this period the Lombards were very troublesome to the Pope, and frequently assailed the Roman territory. Accordingly, when Pope Adrian I. called on Charlemagne for aid, the Frankish monarch crossed the Alps, defeated the Lombards, shut up their king in a monastery, and himself assuming the famous “iron crown” of Lombardy, united the whole of Upper Italy to the kingdom of the Franks (A.D. 773). At the same time he confirmed the gifts made by Pepin to the Pope.

The general result of all the wars and conquests which we have described was that by the year 800 Charlemagne, who had inherited from Pepin a kingdom scarcely equal to all Gaul, found himself lord of a dominion as large as the ancient Roman Empire of the West, and extending from the Ebro (in Spain) on the west to the Elbe in the northeast, the Theiss (Hungary) in the southeast, and including half of Italy, with Corsica, Sardinia, and the Balearic Isles. He fell heir to a kingdom; he was now master of an empire.

CROWNED BY THE POPE AS EMPEROR OF THE WEST

The year A.D. 800 forms the climax of Charlemagne’s reign. The sovereign had gone in splendid state to visit Italy. On Christmas day Charlemagne and his court were attending divine service in the church of St. Peter’s, at Rome. Suddenly, while the monarch was kneeling on the steps of the altar in prayer, the Pope, Leo III., placed a crown upon his head and solemnly saluted him as “Emperor of the West,” with the title of Charles I., Cæsar Augustus.

CHARLEMAGNE’S CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE CIVILIZATION OF HIS TIME

The latter years of Charlemagne’s life were spent in labors for the consolidation of his empire and the elevation of his people. He was a great patron of learning and learned men. He was himself a good Latin scholar, and he knew something of Greek. Wherever he was he was usually surrounded by learned churchmen, whom he drew to his court from all quarters, and with whom he delighted to hold conversations on literary and other subjects. The emperor, his family, and all attached to his household formed what was called the “School of the Palace.” Fond of literary pursuits, Charlemagne studied grammar, rhetoric, music, logic, astronomy, and natural history under his learned friends; and even after he was considerably advanced in years he took the pains to acquire the art of writing,--an accomplishment then very unusual except among churchmen.

HIS EFFORTS FOR EDUCATION OF HIS PEOPLE

Nor was the emperor’s interest in education confined to his own household. Each of the numerous monasteries that he endowed was bound to maintain a school. He had copies of the writings of the ancient Romans made and distributed among the convents, he formed a collection of old German heroic ballads, and under his patronage church music was greatly improved.

CAPITAL AND FAVORITE RESIDENCE OF CHARLEMAGNE

Charlemagne’s favorite place of residence was at Aix-la-Chapelle (in German, _Aachen_). He made this the northern capital of his empire, as Rome was the southern, and built a magnificent palace there. When his power was confirmed by his coronation as Emperor of the West, all the world hastened to pay him homage. The Saracen caliph, the famous Haroun-al-Raschid, who ruled the Eastern dominion of the Saracens, at Bagdad, exchanged courtesies with his great brother of the West, sending him, among other presents, an ape, an elephant, and a curious clock which struck the hours.

THE END OF CHARLEMAGNE’S GREAT EMPIRE

Charlemagne died at the age of seventy-two, at Aix-la-Chapelle, in A.D. 814. The year before, he had caused his only living son, Louis, to assume the imperial crown. But the vast structure that Charlemagne had raised during his lifetime tottered and fell almost immediately after his death. Louis, known as the Gentle (_le Debonnaire_), was better fitted for the repose of a cloister than for the government of a warlike kingdom. His sons, among whom he divided the empire, turned their arms first against himself and then against one another. Finally, in A.D. 843, a treaty was made at Verdun, by which France, Germany and Italy became separate and independent states; so that, in less than thirty years after the death of Charlemagne, the history of the FRANKS came to an end, and the history of FRANCE and of GERMANY began.

COMPARATIVE HISTORY OF NATIONS--Continued

IX. FROM THE TREATY OF VERDUN TO THE SIGNING OF MAGNA CHARTA BY KING JOHN, 843-1215 A. D.

GREAT EVENTS OF PERIOD. 900-1000: Norse ravages and conquests continue; also private wars. 1000-1100: Increasing and beneficent power of the church exerted in the direction of order. Normans in Italy and Sicily. The Norman conquest of England; which as regards good government far surpasses all other countries. Quarrels between popes and emperors begin. 1100-1200: Quarrels between popes and emperors continue; zenith of papal power; Criticism revived. Private wars lessen; advance in power of kings and of towns at expense of the feudal baronage. The Crusades. 1200-1300: Rise of universities and of mendicant Friars. Quarrels between popes and emperors still continue. Last Crusades. English liberties recognized by the crown. Magna Charta.